Anchor Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Anchor Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 43.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,469 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,666 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its position in Accenture by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 725 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.23.

Accenture Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $288.58 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $332.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $351.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.75 billion, a PE ratio of 24.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.77 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 27,921 shares of company stock worth $9,876,619. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.